tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378200052014-10-03T02:47:09.833-05:00Thoughts of a roleplayerMy personal thoughts and ideas about the MMORPG industry.Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.comBlogger126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-35225888581342675102011-03-23T20:02:00.002-05:002011-03-23T20:37:10.204-05:00The Science of Magic<div style="text-align: justify;">Magic is not magic, you know. It's a science! And like all good sciences, it ought to be observed, studied, theorized and explained. Magic should be something that makes sense in the game world, something internally consistent and explainable, not a plot device that is no sooner introduced that it is dismissed. And perhaps more importantly in an open world, it should be something the players can discover themselves.<br /><br />Magic, as a natural phenomenon, should be discovered before it can be used. This might be the premise of the world : the formally barbaric, nomadic tribes first settled down when they discovered how to use the natural supernatural forces themselves. From there on, they unraveled, little by little, the threads of life, the elements and spiritual things, increasing the human presence in the world.<br /><br />Then come the players, in their youthful enthusiasm, expecting incredible forces to be bestowed upon them with little more effort than the destruction of native life forms; and while studying indigenous creatures that have some forms of natural magic might indeed help pierce its deepest secrets, it is through the scientific method, applied rigorously, that players get to discover the new things of their virtual lives. When enough efforts have been applied toward the discovery of things supernatural, new powers can be unlocked, powers of creation or destruction; powers minute or gargantuan; powers shared or jealously guarded, which can then only be found by the same, rigorous process, or by multiple observations of its effects, typically of the painful variety.<br /><br />All of this, of course, is not possible if the magical powers are simply throw-away elements, token acknowledgements of a fantasy world that is best left rigid and unimaginative, for there can be no science if there cannot be growth of knowledge, through observation and experiments. If, however, precious care is given that the world is not only malleable, but internally consistent, such that players can not only discover its marvels, but collaborate in creating such wonders themselves, then magic becomes not only a science, but also a whole realm of technology, where industries rise and flourish through the many needs of the players. Certainly, many will want the capacity to toss fire and its elemental cousins at undesired intruders, but many more will want simpler things, from constructions and convenience enchantments, to alterations and purely aesthetic creations. Slowly, the players will find ways to outdo themselves, marking the history of a rising magical culture or the downfall of an overambitious nation.<br /><br />Eventually, beasts will be dissected and elements observed; potent powers will be weaved into fabric and metals; and grandiose spectacles both immensely useful and ridiculously eccentric will be presented. Players will gain power; for its own right, for themselves or for others, they will seek it. Conflicts, both ideological and territorial, will spark, until one or none remains, for it is the nature of men to seek what is unobtainable. And only after too much has been done will men realize the folly of their pursuit. Science is not good or bad, but there are always those who will seek it for either. Magic, then, becomes just one more way for humanity to doom itself. Perhaps their impressive ruins will serve as a warning to future nations, then, to not toy with the basic forces of nature? One can only hope.<br /></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-2918504929707636482010-11-28T22:40:00.003-05:002010-11-28T23:02:17.609-05:00Slow, Harduous Research<div style="text-align: justify;">What I would like to see in an MMORPG is a system of research for acquirable skills; something that allowed players to spend some time, possibly involving another minigame, and learn a new skill or recipe, or receive a new enhancement, as a passive skill.<br /><br />On the skill side, this would be akin to intense training, either in general, earning an unknown skill; or in particular, trying to design a skill from scratch. This would be a form of self-teaching, allowing one to gain a skill when no one knows or is willing to teach it. With great effort, a player would discover something new - or possibly understand something they have seen done - and be able to teach it to others. This would allow first-generation players to have something to strive for; and when basic skills have all been discovered and spread, new players will have an easier time catching up to the veterans, making the game more fun for everyone.<br /><br />For recipes, the system would be similar, but require that the player actually input materials. Experiments using said materials would destroy them, but possibly teach the player some new ways of using them, potentially yielding a working prototype. Again, recipes would eventually spread in the community, if not by teaching, then by <a href="http://hexedian.blogspot.com/2008/01/reverse-engineering-crafting.html">reverse-engineering</a>, meaning new players can become useful crafters with less invested time.<br /><br />As for passive skills, it's all about intense training - one could train themselves to withstand great mental fatigue, for example, hardening them against psychological effects or increasing some related attributes. Even without a precise goal in mind, intense training in their skill in general can yield small but welcome incremental bonuses, something that is always useful to have.<br /><br />The whole idea here is to allow players to be pioneers in their chosen fields, permanently engraving their names in the history of the world - or perhaps just following the footsteps of heroes of yore, who learned every move people take for granted the hard way.<br /><br />And darnit, they <span style="font-style: italic;">liked</span> it!<br /></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-32462160416109197142010-04-12T18:39:00.002-05:002010-04-12T19:05:18.849-05:00A Realistic User Interfaces<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:arial;" >When you look at the average MMORPG, you sometimes struggle to see the character through all the user interface elements taking up portions of the screen. While they are pretty much essential in creating a decent interactive game, they often take much from the immersive feeling of the game, preventing the players from feeling like they are in a real world instead of a computer game. With the proper elements, however, much of that immersion prevention can be eliminated.<br /><br />The first step in making the user interface more immersive is not to decorate it with skulls, dragons and fairies, but to make it an actual part of the game. Make the interface something the character sees, a spell of sorts from which everyone benefits. The inventory screen? Part of the spell. Minimap? Spell element. Friend list, character stats, action shortcuts? All part of the character's magical GUI. You can even call the third person camera some sort of hallucination spell that allows a character to see themselves from behind.<br /><br />With such a complex spell, you can even add new, interesting elements. For example, every character - and event the NPCs - could have their own helper avatar, taking the form of an illusionary butler or maid, or even a playful child; or they could be fairies, skeletons, bunnies, dragons, whatever the player wants. As long as you have the model in the game, you can make it the player's helper; and the helper does more than just help the player around with the GUI. They could act as assistants, reminding players of important events - for example, their own assigned sleep time. They could help the players customize their GUI, perhaps recommending customizations that would fit their needs. They could help players find new things to do - informing them of the best place to go to improve their skills, find mercenary work or go hunting, or any other number of tasks in which the player would like to participate.<br /><br />Even better, as long as the player is within friendly territories, the helper could stay in touch with local events. They could get the player's magical mail, inform them of new bounties or track down potential party opportunities. With a magical GUI, the possibilities are plenty - and players will no doubt find more themselves, adding to the customization choices; perhaps a market could even develop for customization experts to sell their programming skills for some in-game currency.<br /><br />With a GUI and avatar, the players can feel immersed, even when looking at a stereotypical game interface. There's nothing to stand in the way of their appreciation of the game, and it actually helps make the players happy, so it's a net win, right?<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-91753724131005962622010-03-31T18:04:00.003-05:002010-03-31T18:35:02.757-05:00A Game World<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style=";font-family:arial;" >An MMORPG is defined first and foremost by the world in which its players are allowed to play. It can be a theme park or a sandbox, of course, but past those labels, there is so much more it can be.<br /><br />In making a game world, one has to choose how everything will interact and, more importantly, how players will interact with the world. Any type of player one wants to find in their world must find something to do, and even players who defy categorization can be accounted for.<br /><br />Do you make a game for achievement fans and player-killers? Drop the crafting and appearance differences, and make sure you display their appropriate numbers for all to see. If you want socializers, make sure it's easy for them to find each other and form groups. You want a mix of explorers, achievers and socializers? Make your world complex yet friendly, then, and you will find some of each.<br /><br />But if one wants their game world to be taken seriously, they have to think further than the four Bartle categories. Which killers do you want in your world? You can pick the action-driven ones, and make mercenary work easily accessible. You can pick the ganker, who likes to prey on weaker players, and encourage the laws of the jungle, where only the strongest survive. And as you ponder your game world, you will no doubt notice that the categories just fill themselves; as if the world had taken a life of its own, so will the players fill the world before you even craft it.<br /><br />In our game, for example, we had a magic-heavy, skill-based, complex world that encouraged player interaction. You'll find that anyone with some social needs will thrive as long as you make it easy for them to find each other; the merchant-like achievers will likewise do rather well if there is enough complexity to allow some speculation on the side; and the killers will find plenty to do if you make it easy for them to jump into the action for their side and get paid for their accomplishments on the battlefield. But, of course, each of them would do well to be explorers, of the world's geography and its basic rules.<br /><br />If you craft a decent world, players will come; but if you make a deep, wonderful place in which they can live, they will be sucked into your alternate reality. Your world may be a roller coaster or a city builder, but in the end, if you stay consistent in the design, you will end up with something someone wants to play; and that is really the basic of making a game.<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-16081869430186829722010-01-05T10:55:00.004-05:002010-01-05T11:05:31.249-05:00The Art and Science of Combat<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Although this is not a distinction often used to describe an MMO's gameplay, I feel it is one that deserves some attention. One should know which of the terms best describes their gameplay, which would undoubtedly help them tell if they're headed the right way in term of design decisions.<br /><br />If gameplay elements tend more towards making the game a science, then people will have to study numbers and come up with the best formulas; characters will be optimized based on the setup of the day and there will be no decisions to take during the action - they will all have been made in advance, during the planning phase.<br /><br />Should gameplay elements indicate combat as a form of art, then people should not overly worry about optimization - there will be many working setups, and anyone can contribute, no matter how odd their choices, as long as they have an idea of what they're doing. Decisions on the battlefield will matter more, and the initial plan will likely not survive contact with the enemy.<br /><br />Although both elements can make for good games, they do not interact well; people will expect one and, seeing traces of the other, will likely complain that the game is not exactly how they wanted it. Combat should be thought of as an art or a science; getting both at once only serves to confuse people.<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-19188696036044484312009-11-28T12:05:00.004-05:002009-11-28T12:26:19.946-05:00Importation and Teleportation<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">One way to add diversity from combat and crafting is to add the possibility of trading and importation, with the value of goods varying from place to place. Unfortunately, local supplies and demands lose some weight when you factor in fast travel modes like teleportation, flying mounts and machines and the various magical means. While modes of linear travel simply decrease the time between two points, teleportation essentially reduces it to a constant. With that in mind, a way to lessen the importance of teleportation for the transportation of goods needs to be implemented.<br /><br />If one uses the concept of <a href="http://hexedian.blogspot.com/2008/12/basics-of-game-world.html">energy as money</a>, then teleportation can use energy - using the currency itself to fuel the transfer. With that in mind, it would be quite possible to add a so-called teleportation tax, where items need to be prepared before they can be teleported; preparing items requires energy, depending on their weight and inherent magical power, such that using teleportation to trade goods between areas of supply and those of demands becomes financially infeasible, except for a few goods that are small, non-magical and highly priced. Items typically carried by adventurers, while often both heavy and magical, are less of a problem in this case, since said tax need only be paid once to prepare items for teleportation.<br /><br />With such high burdens associated with faster travel, it would not be uncommon for players to travel between towns, perhaps forming caravans for mutual protection; and players of <a href="http://hexedian.blogspot.com/2008/12/laws.html">opposing nations</a> will certainly do their best to disrupt caravans and appropriate expensive goods for themselves. There will be conflicts, politics, intrigue and death; a recipe for a great story to unfold before our very eyes. And when you let players in charge of telling a story, it can either end very well, or very badly, either case being quite interesting, to say nothing of lucrative. Maybe teleportation isn't such a bad idea after all...<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-17537801246123791512009-06-23T15:42:00.002-05:002009-06-23T16:25:56.618-05:00Three-numbers attributes<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">A lot of depth and realism is lost in games due to the ability of just anybody to recover from near-mortal wounds; or for an exhausted person to be perfectly rested again after very little time. Attributes like health, stamina, mana and whatnot are fine for showing the immediate effects of their decrease, but fail somewhat short of realism for natural (or supernatural) recovery. As such, I propose the use of a three-numbers attribute system : immediately available, short-term recovery, and maximum (or long-term recovery).<br /><br />Instead of showing attributes as current / maximum, they would be displayed as current / short-term / maximum. Short-term, in this case, is the amount to which the current attribute can easily recover; for example, if stamina shows 45 / 90 / 100, current stamina will naturally recover up to 90, then stay there until the short-term stamina increases.<br /><br />This can be used to work with any attribute. A slash from a sword, for example, would not be quickly naturally healed, and would deal most of its damage on short-term recovery, prevent easy healing; a lash from a whip, on the other hand, can cause quite a lot of pain, but little actual physical damage - it would recover naturally, given enough time, making whip combat quite different from regular combat - and that's not even considering the <a href="http://hexedian.blogspot.com/2008/02/value-of-pain.html">value of pain</a>. The various forms of health recovery would differentiate themselves, among other things, by their ability to deal with short-term and long-term wounds. Both would have their uses, and being short on one could be as devastating as being short on the other.<br /><br />Stamina, on the other hand, would be something more of a long-term resource; the more you use it, the least you have later on. If you've been fighting (or crafting) all day long, you're likely to feel the toll. Your swings are weaker, your reflexes slower, and suddenly, climbing that hill doesn't seem like such an easy task after all. You'll be sitting, after another exhausting event, and watch as your available stamina makes its way back to the again-decreased short-term amount, wondering if now would be a good time to check your supplies, or perhaps sneak a little afternoon nap, hoping no nasty makes its way to your location in the mean time. If you are a crafter, you might want to consider calling it a day after the sixth time you dropped your instrument, and perhaps head to the local drinking establishment and kick back with fellow artisans after a day well spent.<br /><br />And while we're at it, why not have short-term and long-term mana usage? Depending on the spell used, a magician's powers could be depleted for long-term or short-term; casting lots of smaller spells in quick succession, for example, would decrease the short-term mana pool but leave the long-term pool mostly untouched, while attempting word-shattering evocations would leave a magician looking forward to a day filled with very few spells. Abilities could be acquired which would allow to used more short-term or more long-term mana in a spell, allowing for magic usage tailored to the immediate needs of the wizards and sorcerers.<br /><br />Should any other attributes be used, they might likewise be interpreted on the three-numbers scale. Morale? Sure thing. Concentration? Certainly. Rage? Perhaps, though it would likely start empty, and build up as the fight progresses. Intimidation? Nature affinity? Zen? They could all work, if implemented right. And what's more, there's little to lose but simplicity to the three-numbers system, and a bit of complexity would certainly be a small price to pay for the myriad improvements this could add to the average MMORPG.<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-14005278937649891082008-12-22T21:50:00.003-05:002009-04-05T21:13:38.082-05:00Limits of Emulating Real Life<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">In the making of any game, the developers have to ask themselves how much some things have to be emulated, or how much they have to be real. Be it physics, lighting, spawning or AI, everything is important, and often a middle ground must be found, because usually no single concept offers the whole answer.<br /><br />Take monster spawning, for example. The traditional way of handling respawns is to have creatures pop out of thin air, with no explanation as to why or how they do it; and the harder it is to explain something, the harder it is to suspend one's disbelief. At the opposite end of the scale, however, every spawn is explained in details (and education videos), which takes more hardware to run than all the players together; not really a position in which you want to find yourself, unless you consider the players to be a background upon which the NPCs play their carefully-orchestrated masterpiece.<br /><br />Finding a middle ground, you want to spawn creatures within growing groups, away from a player's eyes. The circumstances surrounding the addition to a member - or more - to that group should be good enough that the birth of that creature should be obvious and predictable, so that total immersion into the game world can be achieved. You also want the nature of the spawned creature to fit with the game world; should it spawn a member of a species which starts young, then it should be young. Should it spawn within a species with castes, it should belong to a caste, such that the group will be better off with it. And, of course, you should apply a generous amount of randomness in the new creature's abilities, so it can be differentiated from other members of its group, within the capacities of the species and group, of course.<br /><br />However, there's still plenty of room for deciding how to do things. Do creatures age at a continuous rate, such that you can observe it changing slowly over time, or they they hit stages of life and pop to their new form? Are the capacities of a member decided randomly, or are they affected by its environment? And, of course, do its belonging appear upon birth, or does your creature acquire them through hard, virtual work?<br /><br />You might also want to compare with the current games on market. People are used to enemies popping into existence, and would probably not look twice if creatures appeared to change before them, without visible reason. The idealism of a realistic virtual world is laudable, but it serves little purpose if it takes you a month to create something the players will never see. Balance in all things also applies to game creation, it seems.<br /><br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-57532829302889983082008-12-15T21:07:00.003-05:002008-12-15T23:05:58.071-05:00The Laws<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Countries have laws. That's how you make people behave because, seriously, half of them are savages. How you uphold these laws depends on your available resources. With magic, it's kind of easy; just make sure anyone who enters your country accepts a law spell, binding them to the laws of the country, with unlawful actions resulting it automatic penalties upon the lawbreaker.<br /><br />That being said, what can laws cover? Murder and thievery, of course, at least as applied to lawful citizens of the territories. You'll want to make sure people feel safe in your country, otherwise you might have trouble getting citizens to want joining your country. If you want to establish global or specific taxes, that's entirely in your right. You also want laws which establish your system of beliefs, so that like-minded people prefer your country to allies' or rivals'.<br /><br />Of course, nobody is forcing you to have fair laws; if you want thievery and murder to be legal (at least against people who aren't YOU), then by all means make them legal. If you don't want goody-two-shoes entering your country, then make it illegal for goody-two-shoesians to do so. Or tax the heck out of them; who said you had to be fair? You're the king (or president, dictator, comrade, what have you), and whoever finds it a good idea to argue with you will find themselves quite acquainted with the meaning of "full extend of the law".<br /><br />Perhaps more importantly, however, you want to consider the laws of neighboring states; should one of them have strict beliefs regarding certain aspects, you should at least acknowledge them, otherwise no alliance would be possible. With conflicting laws, you will have to actually pick your allies, and it's never possible to satisfy everyone. Enemies will grow of former allies, and wars will be forced upon pacifists, stuck between enemies fighting over trivialities; war is never pretty, but it rarely gets worst than good people fighting for no reason than upholding arbitrary laws.<br /><br />Yes, laws are important, even when there are none. They define the country and, ultimately, they define the people who live within it, from the humble peasant to the mighty rulers. It's what you believe in, it's the laws you decide to obey that show who you are, and determine your overall experience - be it as a noble paladin or cunning rogue, you will obey the laws, or suffer the consequences.<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-52094364737716892922008-12-08T15:37:00.002-05:002008-12-08T15:59:18.861-05:00Mood Swings<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">You know you're an adventurer when you can go from the wildest berserker rage to a cowardly retreat within the beat of a heart. The way things work, your mood is affected by what you need to do to react correctly to your environment; how you feel at the moment has no effect on your overall disposition.<br /><br />What if it was different? (Yes, I know, how unexpected of me). States of mind are not something people can normally easily manipulate; doing so requires monk-like training of both the mind and body. Better to just go with the mood.<br /><br />But what ARE moods? Moods are anger, fear, love (or lust), hatred, sadness, and all other feelings that make the palette of human emotions. Moods also affect how you act; if a warrior manages to make you angry because of his taunts, then it's normal to want to hurt him. When affected by a fear spell, you'll probably want to run away, because your attacks will be slow and clumsy. Likewise, charms can be dispelled by reminding yourself that that thing over there has tentacles and mouths where they don't belong and are these bones and I'm going to die help me please...<br /><br />Essentially, moods should move only slowly and over time. A fear spell might not be your best choice against a berserking warrior, just as trying to freezing the mage in his track would be a less than temporary impediment to your opponent, who would most likely not hold back on retaliations. Applied correctly, however, it can prevent the squishiest members of you group from losing the <span style="font-style: italic;">internal</span> part of their favorite organs. Know your targets, and know your capacities, and you will succeed where the best would falter. Let the moods always swing in your favor.<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-13477229781822189632008-12-01T16:54:00.003-05:002008-12-01T17:17:40.842-05:00Basics of a Game World<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">It's all in the crystals. Really, it is. Crystals have the intrinsic ability of being associated with magical powers, and nobody will ever question a crystal's abilities, because hey, you don't know what they can do.<br /><br />So if I decide that, say, crystals have the ability to store energy, nobody will question it; it's such a basic concept that it would actually be accepted without any complain. With this, you can make energy your currency - it is transferred easily from crystal to crystal, taken as life energy from the bodies of slain foes, even discharged from items with magical potential.<br /><br />Once you've established that crystals hold energy, you can make them do plenty of things with it. Want to travel to a remote location? Use energy. Want to enchant an item? Use energy. Died and need to be transported someplace safe? Use energy, if you have any. Every action could have an energy cost or benefit, and it would make a lot more sense than magically converting gold pieces to labor or materials.<br /><br />Now, we're back to the crystals. See, crystals can do more than store energy - they can be your essential traveling accessory and companion. The crystal provides the game interface, opening holographic windows in front of your character in response to your keystrokes. It contains its own dimension, allowing you to store items as if it was a proverbial hero's almost endless backpack; better yet, with the proper training, material and, of course, energy, you can increase its capacity to suit your growing needs!<br /><br />Your life crystal is what lets you send messages to far away people. It shows you direction and your surrounding. It records every location to which you have been so that you may travel there again. It knows the name of all your friends and records every last bit of information you might need - not to mention having access to an exhaustive library containing every relevant information one could want. It is your crystal that first greets you in the morning, and the last thing you will see and hear before falling asleep is what you programmed your crystal to show and sing to you.<br /><br />Do you see the beauty? It's a simple system that encompasses concepts of MMORPGs that have stayed with us so long but which always seemed a bit out of place, as if they were added without much forethought about the impossibility of their presence. With a single concept, a single word, you can have a world that makes sense, from the first shiny to the last dragon; it's a self-contained world, all ready to be explored.<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-55136143413579439562008-11-28T21:37:00.002-05:002008-11-28T21:53:38.880-05:00Rebirth of the Thoughts<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">So it was two years ago that these humble ramblings <a href="http://hexedian.blogspot.com/2006/11/first-thought_28.html">first appeared</a>, and it is only appropriate that they should come back on the same day.<br /><br />I could have posted sooner, but that would simply have resulted in a few sporadic posts. I don't think too many people would want to show up to see a post every month, so I instead kept ideas aside for a grand re-opening. Or something like that.<br /><br />The point is, the Thoughts are back, and not much has changed, so I hope you keep enjoying my writings!<br /><br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-88322725024356698982008-05-27T17:04:00.003-05:002008-05-27T18:07:57.256-05:00Exploring the Genres<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The thoughts so far have talked about an MMORPGs of the fantasy genre, by far the most common genre in the current market, but it would also be possible to use the concepts exposed with other genres. Let's take a few of the most popular genres for comparison.<br /><br />Science-fiction is, of course, the obvious first, being both popular and fairly common. The skill tree of a combat-oriented science-fiction game would be somewhat different, with less emphasize on melee combat, and more on ranged and mechanically-assisted fighting. Crafting wouldn't use many hammers or needles, instead relying on automated mechanics, of both the micro and macro kinds, and the portable and industry sizes, taking instructions from the crafter. Vehicles become more important, ranging from portable impulse generators to space stations rivaling the sizes of inhabited moons. Whether you're planet-side, hunting exotic animals in no less exotic terrains, or fighting the good fight against alien invaders in your rental space ship, you're bound to have the time of your life in a science-fiction MMO.<br /><br />Next in line is an MMORPG striving for realism, and here you have some problems, because MMOs being what they are, people are bound to get hurt; and if you push the realism too far, you'll find customers quite dissatisfied at permanently losing limbs, or worse. Every forward push of the fun takes away from the realism, until your game has more rule and loopholes than a poorly-worded NDA. Not to say that it's impossible, of course, but I'm not holding out for The Sims 3 to rival World of Warcraft's combat experience just yet.<br /><br />There's also science-fantasy, where psionic capabilities rival microgravitic field generators. This is the realm of jedi knights saving helpless princesses from multidimensional dragons. You might not have mighty wizards wielding arcane powers and fireballs, but you can be sure the ill-defined laws of the supernatural will offer just the same experience. Like the science-fiction world, the science-fantasy universe will offer multiple planets to explore and conquer, but they will have a greater emphasis on personal capabilities; people with supernatural powers are of little help in ship-to-ship combat, but they will offer great support during close-encounter fights, leading to much different tactics.<br /><br />Finally, there's steampunk, the oft-forgotten child of history and realistic fantasies, where one can build autonomous androids with a coil of wire and the right Swiss army knife; here, there aren't many machines of mass destruction (not that it'll stop some from trying), so close combat is again important, but you will see a significant number of pseudo-technological objects, from pistols and blunderbusses to esoteric devices affecting the world in every way imaginable. There's no lack of things to do here, so it's probably from a lack of awareness or desire that a world of steam-powered mechanical animals hasn't risen up to the glories of MMORPGs yet.<br /><br />These is just beginning to scratch the surface of different genres, of course. There could be a lot more to say about those genres (and maybe more will actually be said), and other genres are also possible. Fantasy is king, yes, but even lowly pawns can overtake the mighty king.<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-82033380408467230942008-04-27T09:25:00.003-05:002008-04-27T09:38:54.458-05:00Is Procedural The Key?<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">First, read this fascinating article at <a href="http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=1634#more-1634">Rock, Paper, Shotgun</a>.<br /><br />Done? Good. Then, at this point, you can't but be as excited as I am about a game that actually tries to make a dynamic MMO. I believe that Love, as it is called, can be a revolution in MMORPG; granted, a man working alone has significantly limited possibilities, but even with one hundredth of the current subscribers of WoW (10 millions, if you need to know), Love wouldn't fail to attract attention from deep-pocket corporations, and some of them might actually want to do more than a me-too game.<br /><br />With a world that is different every time you visit it, and players who do not feel threatened by a game that tries to be more than the rest and deviates from the norm, you will see in Love nothing short than a new age of MMOs, something that will take gaming, in all its forms, leaps forward, in an era of player-driven worlds and compelling stories. Until then, mister Steenberg, we are waiting. Please don't go <span style="font-style: italic;">Duke Nukem Forever</span> on us...<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-13846088844543901622008-04-08T19:31:00.003-05:002008-04-08T21:00:21.881-05:00I Remember Ultima Online<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">I remember UO. I was a tamer, yessir, best there was. Anyone needed a mustang, they knew they'd come to me, best tamer, best prices. Of courses, animals were next to useless in combat, but that didn't matter much. Taming was great for me, and that's all that mattered. How this matters is, of course, that I'm going to be talking about animal taming; specifically, the training part of the taming.<br /><br />In UO, a tamed pet is expected to know all commands. It will understand your speech and attack, follow, move or fetch the newspaper at a word's command. A more interesting concept would have the tamer teach commands to the pet.<br /><br />A pet would have a base intelligence, which indicates how many commands it can learn. If the pet age is to be a factor, then we can assume an old dog will have more command slots available. These slots are to be filled by a tamer with the appropriate skill learned, through interaction with the pet (Hey, another potential minigame there!). Assuming the taming was successful, the new command can then be used by the pet's master.<br /><br />Before learning new tricks, however, the pet would need to fulfill some requirements. Besides having enough skill slots, and the intelligence to understand the command, it would need to have trained with the master before, understanding and forming a bound with them. That bound allows a pet to <span style="font-style: italic;">want</span> to perform tricks for the master, in a mutually beneficial fashion. Pets that get transferred to new masters retain their skills, but are unable or unwilling to use them until the new master's bound is high enough.<br /><br />In other words, taming a colossus of a pet is nice, but you will need to invest lots and lots of time into training it into something decent, and don't even get started on the cost of A-grade dragon meat; feeding a humongous creature is always a costly matter. On the other hand, if all you want is to give a friend a cute puppy, then you've got it easy; dogs are smart and loyal, and not only will they learn cute tricks very easily, they will also form bounds with their new master quickly. New tricks can even be taught by a new master, allowing for tamers specializing in taming or training of particular creatures.<br /><br />All this can, of course, be adjusted for other forms of companionship. Golems can adapt their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technobabble">positronic brains</a> to suit new tasks, or simply assimilate magical elements that explain new behaviors. Skeletons which go to combat often can actually learn the tricks, and zombies that eat enough brains might start to think better. With evolving allies, one could keep the same pets around for very long periods, without having to worry that their followers would start lagging behind their own development. Of course, you don't <span style="font-style: italic;">have</span> to train them, if you don't want to; piles of bones and stacks of rocks will crush opponents pretty well without training, but sometimes it's the little extra length that makes all the difference. That, and seeing the puppy dance. That's a lot of brownie points right there.<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-8300243319990115182008-03-29T21:10:00.001-05:002008-03-29T21:12:30.379-05:00The Currency<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Forget gold pieces, platinums, dollars or even buckazoids; give me shinies.<br /><br />That is all.<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-49153966142797616202008-03-24T21:33:00.003-05:002011-05-26T09:33:29.311-05:00Mabinogi Review<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://mabinogi.nexon.net/">Mabinogi</a> is an MMORPG developed by the Korean game corporation, Nexon (Also responsible for the popular platformer MMO, Maple Story). The medieval-fantasy setting of Mabinogi is certainly nothing to write home about, but where the game shines is with the core game mechanics, which lie a long step ahead of the competition in term of player interaction. One's success in the game is actually largely influenced by the skills and knowledge of the player.<br /><br />Taking combat as the first example, by picking the correct skill to use against an enemy, a skillful player can overcome an enemy much more powerful than themselves; conversely, one who does not understand or has not mastered the combat system will often fail, even against enemies of a fraction of their level. The combat system itself is quite complex, and requiring a lot of time to fully understand, but it revolves around a rock-paper-scissor system, which is shared by the players and enemies alike - although some enemies do enjoy some natural abilities outside of the normal combat skills. Magic is done in a similar manner, and choosing between fire, lightning and ice, each having their own distinct effects, can determine the positive or negative outcome of a battle.<br /><br />Player advancement takes the form of levels, skills and attributes. Levels are what could be expected of an MMORPG, with the exception that level alone does not determine much of a player's survival abilities. While gaining a level does grant increased attributes and the highly-coveted ability point (AP), it is not, by itself, a one-way trip to great power and adulation. Levels simply help you achieve your goals, whatever they may be. The second form of advancement, skills, are simply a more advanced form of skill levels from other MMORPGs. One advances skill by spending the aforementioned AP, available upon leveling, completion of some quests and aging (More on that later). Skills, however, must be trained before being increasable, either through usage, studying, or both, where appropriate. Characters have no strict classes, and are given the choice of picking as many or as few skills as they like; increasing skills, in most cases, requires exponentially more AP, meaning that mastering many skills (getting the rank 1, with ranks going from F to 1, in a reverse hexadecimal numbering system) would require lots of dedication and knowledge from the player. Finally, attributes are the stats that determine the exact outcome of most actions; high strength means more melee damage, high intelligence better magic, high luck more item drops, etc. Attributes are increased through leveling, increasing skill levels, aging and dieting... well, food consumption, at any rate. You can eat meat all day, and it WILL increase your strength - by a small amount - but it will also most likely make you fat, with your character's appearance matching the part. Luckily, gaining or losing weight does not otherwise affect a character.<br /><br />Another interesting aspect of the game is the 'life' skills, skills not directly related to combat. You can gain skills like cooking, smithing, enchanting, campfire and resting (which allows you to sit - you don't otherwise have the knowledge of the arcane magic of "sitting"). Of these, the main production skills include a small minigame, using the player's skill to determine, in part, the outcome of the production; cooking, for example, requires that the player select the proportions of the ingredients, using a fuzzy and somewhat unpredictable minigame, meaning that more skillful and experienced players will create better food, which allows for better temporary attribute boosts and, in the case of exceptionally good food, short cutscenes showing the character's level of appreciation for the food.<br /><br />Players also have access to musical instruments, allowing them to play music in the game; in conjunction with the music composition and music theory skills, the instrument playing skill allows the player to play whatever song they can create, from great classics to the anime-du-jour's theme song.<br /><br />Also interesting to note is the character's age, which plays a great part in determining the type of game the player will be confronted with. Characters can start between the ages of 10 and 17, with 10-years-old characters having lower starting attributes, but gaining them faster over time; this means that experienced players who start at a younger age will end up stronger than their older counterparts. However, attributes increases on leveling up are not flat, but dependent on a character's age, so starting at age 10 might be better for, say, increasing one's luck, but their intelligence will not increase upon leveling up until they get older, meaning that mages will be at a disadvantage if they decide to level up at a lower age. Age also determines a character's height, from short 10-years-old to adult characters (those of age 18 or above).<br /><br />There would be much more to talk about here, but I believe the point is made; this game is, I believe, along the path of evolution for the MMO genre, propelling the genre forward with convention-shattering mechanics which would make gaming philosophers red with shame. Any real MMO enthusiast owe it to themselves to try this game at least once, and with the coming of the 'first generation' (G1) update, there is now much to do in Mabinogi (Although we can only hope that the game will be able to catch up with its Korean counterpart, which has been enjoying more advanced features for years now).<br /><br />On a final note, the game is free to play, with additional features available through the cash shop. Pets and fluff items are planned, but most importantly, the characters cards are available, which allow one to either create an additional character on an account (Limited to one initially), or rebirth an existing character, re-setting their age and attributes (Except attributes from skills) and optionally changing their appearance, but keeping the character's skills. At high level, rebirthing is the only viable way to increase skills, since APs are slower to come by the more your character gains age and levels. This way, one can pay to increase their character's power, which acts similar to an optional monthly cost that increases the rate of power gain.<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-10938863634645671532008-03-02T21:42:00.002-05:002008-03-02T22:10:17.255-05:00Concentration as a Resource<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://hexedian.blogspot.com/2008/02/value-of-pain.html">Last time</a>, I mentioned that getting hit could temporarily reduce your concentration. One is in their right to ask; what, exactly, does concentration do?<br /><br />In the Real Life MMORPG, concentration is what allows you to keep track of what's in your head. Better concentration will allow you to solve more complicated problems, avoid distractions and ignore annoying people. In an MMORPG trying to emulated this all-time favorite, concentration would be a resource, which gets filled with what you do.<br /><br />Say, you're a sword fighter; a barbarian. You don't have much to think about... The foe is over there, try to hit him while he doesn't hit you. If you start fighting defensively, you start concentrating on your opponent's moves, trying to find an opening. Your concentration is fully taken by your opponent. But what if some idiot starts throwing rocks at you? You can either ignore them, or try to avoid them; either way, it's going to start eating at your concentration. Fighting more opponents means you have less time to dedicate to beating them to a pulp.<br /><br />What if your barbarian is also a tamer? You can send your pet panther at the village idiot, but that would mean you have to give orders, and you have to make sure the pet isn't doing anything bad. Overseeing minions does take away from your concentration.<br /><br />What if you also have a friend with you? Your trusty mage sidekick is behind you, tossing pain and destruction at your mutual opponent, while relying on you to defend him. You have to keep between the friends and the foes, lest the friends start looking for a new meat shield. Concentration is taken away, once again, by having to worry about something. A tank you may be, but you're a tank with lots on his mind. Now you really wish you had paid more attention in those meditation lessons.<br /><br />The concept would be the same for a magic-user. The spells you cast will take away at your concentration, and gosh forbid you should cast a continuous spell; simply keeping into effect would take parts of your concentration away, not to be recuperated until the spell is gone. Of course, you can always <a href="http://hexedian.blogspot.com/2007/02/on-spell-customization.html">customize</a> the spells you use to fill exactly as much concentration as you need them to, but that doesn't mean the system is any easier on you.<br /><br />Keeping track of every effect affecting concentration may be more complicated than what the average gamer is used to, and with today's attention spans at an all-time low, one would be better off picking one role, and sticking to it. Sure, you can learn all the skills you want, but don't expect to marsh in the middle of armies, completely invincible. Sooner or later, your concentration will be overwhelmed, and you will fall. Hard.<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-69065177548316809642008-02-18T12:47:00.002-05:002008-02-18T13:44:39.837-05:00The Value of Pain<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">There you have Samron, the warrior. Samron is a tough guy; he will take hits from his foes all day and never feel the least bit of pain. He doesn't expect his foes to feel any, either. Why would anyone want to stop fighting to feel pain, anyway? That would just be silly.<br /><br />Of course, Samron does have kind of a point. If players get hit all day, it doesn't make any sense to have them feel pain. A warrior who feels pain would fall to the ground after the hundredth stab (Or perhaps go insane and enjoy the pain, but that's another story). What we need is a game where hitting someone isn't so trivialized. Pirates of the Burning Sea had something like that; attacks aren't directed at the opponent's health, but at their balance. When the opponent's balance is lowered enough, you can start shoving pieces of metal through their bodies, with lots fewer chances of the opponent avoiding the attack somehow.<br /><br />What happens, then, when people start feeling pain? Well, for one, players will have a much greater respect for willpower. Typically, those who have high willpower in role-playing games are the wizards and mages, who are expected to put lots of efforts towards their craft. Personally, I don't really see a wizard take a few punches and keep dishing them, which would be a pretty good standard for willpower if I ever saw one.<br /><br />No, those who need willpower the most are the front line soldiers, people who are expected to stand between the squishies and the squishers, shields high, blocking and taking hits so that people who can't take care of themselves still get their share of the loot at the end of the day.<br /><br />So what would pain do to those who aren't tough heroes of the front lines? Why, it sends them to their knee, of course. Few people could take a sword or a mace to the face and stand proud before their enemies. Since they are adventurers, however, we will assume that they are not totally unaware of pain, and have come somewhat prepared. For those who can take pain, however, it's not as if there is no penalty. Concentration, for one, suffers greatly. Tossing spells and shooting projectiles is not something you want to do when you have your mind preoccupied by the large, bloodied crack in your skull.<br /><br />With concentration as a resource, players would be much warier of getting hit. The damage may be a few inconsequential, quickly healed hit points, but the loss of concentration from the hit and pain might mean the difference between a well-placed fireball and a misfired fire bolt.<br /><br />So next time you stand behind your favorite tank, dishing out your favorite mass-murder incantations at unsuspecting mobs, take a moment to thank the warrior for taking the hits for you. He might be wearing thick armor with more spikes than a hedgehog on speeds, but no one likes to take a club across the face. He's doing it to protect you, so be nice to his still diminishing IQ points now, will ya?<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-63269500421958213822008-01-21T21:40:00.000-05:002008-01-21T22:00:30.632-05:00Let's Go Cray<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">If you've been reading these rantings for a while, you know that I want more from an MMORPG than what is offered today. I want realistic advancement. I want a realistic world to explore and conquer. I want fun trade-skills, and generally fun at every corner. But there's also lots of things that I think would be fun, but I haven't mentioned because they aren't practical, due to hardware or social limitations. So I'm going to go crazy now, and name all the pretty ponies I want for my birthday.<br /><br />First of all, what about a full character customization? Having lots of options is nice, and the Elder Scrolls series has a nice character customization, but what if we could get more? Say, going clay modeling for the face, or opening 3D studio to design the character; or maybe picking hair style by combining many styles into one. This would certainly be leaps forward compared to current MMO trends.<br /><span>Chances of this happening : We won't see anything this advanced because people can't be trusted with full openness; I'm still holding out for something that makes me go 'wow' the way Oblivion did.<br /><br />What about a nice social network? You could rate the people you interact with in-game, and the game would tell you how much it expects you to like other people. People with similar beliefs would be registered by a state-of-the-art AI and could more easily find each other, thus enhancing their game experience.<br />Chances of this happening : I'm not holding my breath; socializers are usually the first ones to suffer from budget cuts.<br />(For those who are more programming-savvy, I've been told that friend-of-a-friend software is O (n^2), so it probably won't happen for a while)<br /><br />If we're going crazy, why not add destructible environment? With real world constraint calculations? And realistic physics, thrown in for good measure? Of course, the ability to interact with the environment and leave a lasting mark would be nice, but what we all know we want is to see what happens you we toss fireballs around like maniacs. Show me a gamer who doesn't like explosives and I'll show you someone in denial.<br />Chances of this happening : Cold day in heck. Aside from the fact that MMORPGs of today are static games, we also have to remember that the system needs to do all of those things simultaneously for all those people connected. It's nice to dream, but unless they invent infinite computational power tomorrow, I won't be holding my breath too long...<br /><br />Could be more, of course... What about growing up as a child? The ability of a game to interact with the real world in a meaningful way, such that real work can be accomplished in a more relaxing atmosphere? Or a smart, unpredictable AI? Heck, any AI at all would be nice. Just toss us an AI bone. We'll take anything, really.<br /><br />Ahem...<br /><br />What else have I forgotten? Aside from virtual reality, or mixing all the genres into one large mega-game, what else could be done, in a perfect world, to move the MMORPG genre forward, and help the cause of boredom-deprivation?<br /></span></span></div></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-15923765645745076602008-01-17T20:37:00.000-05:002008-01-17T20:56:27.261-05:00Reverse-Engineering Crafting<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Wouldn't it be nice to find a nice Sword of Everlasting Pepper, and be able to tell how it's made? Check out the blade and learn about the crafting process; cut out the leather hilt to tell where it came from; or maybe analyze the enchantment to know how you, too, would be able to create spicy, delicious condiments at a moment's notice, astounding friends and foes alike with your culinary prowesses.<br /><br />You would first go to your trainer, of course, asking if he, or any of his colleagues, knew how to create the desired ingredient-spawning magic. Learning that such an art is only known to a currently hostile population, but knowing that your life would have no meaning without the capacity to summon the indispensable treat at will, you would venture in a long trek along snaky roads and pointy mountains, braving dangers unknown to sentient-kind, only to yet again face death in the hands of the spicy masters. Claiming your prize, you would go along disassembling it, hoping you would be skillful enough to pinpoint and understand what, exactly, makes deadly arsenals create such a delightful supplement.<br /><br />Playing a minigame of difficulty varying depending on the power of the knowledge or knowledges you seek proportional to your own, you hope that you can understand the mysteries of sharp and blunt seasoning before you completely ruin the weapon; should you fail, you would be forced to find another similarly powered item to once again attempt reverse-engineering the peppering process. Should you win, of course, you would be covered with glory; you would sell the final products to rich warriors hoping to add a little spice to their fights (horrible pun intended), and masters of the arts would travel from distant lands in hope of trading secrets with one such as you.<br /><br />This is the only thing keeping you going, of course. Through freezing tundras or fiery volcanoes you march, with the only thought being of the power and glory that would be rightfully yours should you manage to bring the knowledge of such power to your undeserving homelands. Be proud, my friend, for your goal is noble. We will await you here, knowing, with each bland meal, that you are working hard to deliver us from our culinary impediments. Forward!<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-23894643009241574312008-01-09T17:19:00.001-05:002008-01-09T18:12:16.869-05:00A Magic-Intensive World<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Everywhere you look, it's pretty much always the same things... You've got the throng of medieval-fantasy worlds on one side, then the ones trying something different on the other... There's science-fiction, modern, science-fantasy and a few others, of course, which should be praised for at least not introducing even more orcs and elves to an already Tolkien-saturated market, but beyond those few gems of varying shines, there's little to keep a fantasy enthusiast entertained.<br /><br />An idea I had is of a fantasy world not unlike those swords-and-fireballs me-too clones out there, but with the distinction that magic is a prevalent and abundant power. Most people, no matter their profession, are expected to know their own share of magic, and science, for the most part, is relegated to hobbyists looking to pass the time between their magic-using jobs and watching the magic TV. That is not to say that people of the magical world are still using flint stones to skin the Tarrasque, of course, since an abundance of magic means a lot of potential for growth that do not require knowledge of fission. Buildings are built by taking the raw materials and shaping them in the desired shape; food is grown and harvested by highly specialized agricultural spells, and whatever tools a magical society <span style="font-style: italic;">does</span> need are created by telling the otherwise obedient laws of nature to shut up and do as they're told.<br /><br />Barring external forces, our magic society would evolve towards an utopia at an alarming rate. A powerful and common magic means most actions are easier to take than within a non-magical world, so fewer people are necessary to do the basic maintenance, leaving more people to advance the arts of the crafts even further. In an advanced magic society, sustenance is assured, work loads are light and movement is trivial. All that's left is to create greater and greater things. That, or finding an opposing force, of course, which is somewhat typical of an MMORPG.<br /><br />So yes, strictly speaking, it might be a medieval fantasy game, but you'll have to search long before you find a sword to swing, or a dragon that isn't friendly or dead. People might still need help, though. Now where did I put this 'summon exclamation mark' scroll, already?<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-61597496654989030002007-12-28T00:06:00.001-05:002007-12-28T00:45:04.324-05:00Advanced Item Enchanting<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">When enchanting an item, you typically only decide on a single enchant - say, additional strength; yet, you will find items in your quests that bear multiple powers. I suggest that item enchanting be more open to the player's choices.<br /><br />Item enchanting should be limited by two things - one, how many enchants an item can take, and two, how much power the enchants can have. The first is mostly self-explanatory - items cannot take an indefinite amount of enchants, although some items will take more than other, depending on size, material, shape, craftsmanship and whatnot.<br /><br />The power of enchants an item can take plays a much more important role in determining what someone can do with it, however. Typically, more powerful enchants would take exponentially more power. If running out of power, one could 'use up' an enchant slot to place a negative enchant, which would allow more power for positive enchants. Such negative enchants could include penalties to stats, skills and peripheral attributes (vision, speed or regeneration are a few), which would mostly be the counterparts of positive attributes; other, less common negative enchants could include added weight, penalties under certain conditions (cold, evil, wet...) or even soul binding - the first person to equip this item is bound to it, and cannot trade it. Powerful artifacts could be custom-made for a particular customer, who would want it soul-bound so they could fit a few more precious points into their prized possessions.<br /><br />Additionally, enchanting would require components, with components of different quality having different ratios of enchant-power to enchant-consumption. The scales of Queralyx, the Great Black Wyrm, who was slain in an epic battle to be told for generations to come, will give more powerful enchants than the eyes of Robert the Newt Who Happened To Wander Too Close To Town - and whose slaying didn't generate as much as a haiku, much less a ballad. More advanced players will get more advanced enchants, though the difference isn't such that using an item a few notches lower in the power scale should prevent a player from achieving anything worthy of Bardic Tale status; they just won't mention the rather bland spear he used to pierce the bad guy's cardiac locations.<br /><br />Should an adventurer wish to acquire an item worthy of legends, which they could pass to their proud offspring as a powerful family heirloom, however, they would need to get lots of work done; most likely, they will require help, presumably in the form of loyal guildmates, ready to climb the highest mountains for their beloved friends. Great beasts must be slain, rare resources be found and harvested, great care be placed in growing only the best ingredients for such a creation. Or I guess they could buy the items at the market, but where's the fun in that?<br /><br />Finally, when all the ingredients are carefully selected and you know exactly what enchants you want, you have to pick an enchanter. The enchanter you pick must be able to create the enchants you want, of course, but should ideally be powerful in the type of enchants you want - a priest enchanter would be better at creating a holy weapon than a necromancer, after all. That enchanter would also be someone trusted, for he would be in possession of an item of great power. Finally, you must pick someone with a renown for creating great items, because enchanting isn't easy, and should they perform poorly at the <a href="http://hexedian.blogspot.com/2007/06/enchanting.html">enchanting game</a>, the resulting item would be much weaker than it otherwise could have been, effectively wasting much of the resources used in the process.<br /><br />When all this is done, however, and you have your shiny new item, you can parade around town, showing off your new-magic-item smell to the ahh-ing and ooh-ing crowds. Because in the end, we know you're not doing it for the killing or the bonuses - you really just want more pretty lights and fancy colors around your character; and don't we all?<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-4615777916945237252007-12-15T14:29:00.000-05:002007-12-15T14:45:40.480-05:00What You Do Matters<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">So often, in MMORPGs, you see dozens of people killing the same creature over and over. You see them forming a line or entering instances just so they can slay the same boss. What happened to causality? It seems like doing something does not have consequences; if that is the case, then why bother?<br /><br />Wouldn't it be much better if players could have an influence in the world? If slaying an evil beast would essentially mean that it is gone, no longer to plague the world with its taint? Of course, the players coming second will find only a lair largely devoid of opposition, but at least it would make a certain amount of sense. If you are worried that the world might become unpopulated, simply instill a rule of <a href="http://hexedian.blogspot.com/2006/12/too-much-killing-cant-we-all-just-be.html">less killing, more reward</a>; each opponent becomes a challenge, and players are forced to use their tricks much more efficiently, rather than continuously using the same skills over and over.<br /><br />By giving players the opportunity to change the world, you give them the chance to make a difference. Players will feel special after successfully completing a rescue mission, because they know that, had they not done it, the would-be rescuee could very well have been killed, permanently affecting the world in a negative way. Likewise, players deciding to go on a rampage, killing innocents left and right, would find that not only are they now permanently hunted everywhere, but they have had an effect on their fellow players that could most likely be felt for a long time to come.<br /><br />If more MMORPG developers were trying new things, pushing back preconceptions that have no room in a modern game, then we would see a real revolution in gaming. For now, we must live with revolutionary games that do things the way they've always been done.<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820005.post-8633290767115337032007-11-23T11:28:00.001-05:002007-11-23T11:29:39.902-05:00Where am I?<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">I know, I know, I haven't been very faithful in posting. Truth is, I'm posting my new ideas on the <a href="http://forums.metaplace.com/index.php">Metaplace forums</a>. Give it a look someday, you can discuss new ideas with the brains of tomorrow's MMORPGs.<br /></span></div>Hexedianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04582802836306570386noreply@blogger.com0